THE DEVIL IN MR. POTTER

I first became aware of the attitude of American Christian fundamentalists towards Harry Potter when I watched Jesus Camp. There is a scene in the film, in which the woman who runs the camp gives a sermon about how Harry Potter is witchcraft and sorcery, and therefore Satanic. It turns out that Fundamentalists are really concerned about Harry, and Chick Publications, the publishers who put out those little booklets with cartoons about lost souls burning in hell, went so far as to issue a little book entitled Nervous Witch, in which two young girls plunge into demonic possession by reading Harry Potter books.

I have selected three blogs for this installment of Blogomania:

The first blog is called Timothy’s Blog. Although Timothy is a Christian, he feels that the Harry Potter books are okay to read. In this particular installment, he refutes the argument, which another person makes on his sister’s blog regarding the satanic nature of Harry:

“The witches in Wicca [a false religion] believe they can obtain powers through some “greater power” found in nature. This power they say can be obtained through the mind (much like Harry Potter is learning to be a sorcerer in school). The fact is when these witches do cast spells and they do work it is not through there (sic) mind or some greater power but rather through the works of demons and other principalities not of God.”

The statements in the above paragraph are true. The people who practice witchcraft and wizardry do so only through the power of Satan and his demons. However, the Harry Potter books are by no means a textbook of some of the concepts they contain (such as witchcraft and wizardry). The reader himself is not taught the use of spells and other magic.

http://231blogalley.wordpress.com/2007/03/09/is-it-ok-to-read-harry-potter/


STR, The Freedom Blog has a totally different take on Harry. They do believe that Potter is from the devil.

Here’s an excerpt from this blog, under the heading of “Hogwarts Express” to Hell

"For those of you who have never had the misfortune of reading this series, allow me to present a brief synopsis:

Harry, the title-character is a trainee wizard at a British school of the occult called “Hogwarts”. Harry is a disobedient, insolent orphan who is disliked by his teachers and frequently gets in to trouble.

In each episode of the series, Harry must use his magical powers to defeat “Lord Voldermort”, an evil sorcerer who wishes to take over the whole of England by his use of the dark arts.

When faced with this powerful Evil, Harry does not pray for God’s help; In fact there is not one mention of God or Jesus Christ in the entire series of books. Instead, Harry and his magical acolytes rely on disobedience and witchcraft to defeat all of Voldermort’s plots.

In addition, as the main character grows older, the plotlines of the recent books have begun to include more sexually suggestive plots; The author wishes her readers to conclude that sexual gratification can only come through the mastery of the occult.

It’s hardly surprising that CAP Alert, the highly regarded Christian movie review site gave this movie version of one of these books the worst possible scores, and this scathing summary:

“Morally speaking, The Prisoner of Azkaban is cut with the nearly the same cookie cutter as the previous two Harry Potter films… All three are, of course, the bottom of the scoring in Offense to God. All three violate Isa 5:20 which warns of calling evil good.”

http://www.shelleytherepublican.com/2006/04/27/harry-potter-the-hogwarts-express-to-hell.aspx

What is most interesting about this blog is that it galvanizes the two main groups of opposition to Harry Potter: Political conservatives and Christian fundamentalists.

But what about the Atheist Angle? The Film Atheist begins its review of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone with the following statement:

"There are no witches. Let's say that all together now. THERE ARE NO WITCHES! Magic, spelled with a "c" or a "k" doesn't exist except as an act. And the Harry Potter books are works of fiction. Of course, that means the film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is also fiction. It is a story in a world invented by J.K. Rowling."

http://www.filmatheist.com/reviews/harrypotter1.htm

When we factor the religion angle out of the equation, the whole thing becomes a moot point. But the occult, the devil and Christianity have always been reluctant bedfellows.

Finally, the blog Menagerie of The Mysterious in it’s segment entitled Morality in SciFi and Fantasy, makes a case for Harry Potter being a secular work, which uses wizardry and magic as a mere literary convention, much like The Lord Of The Rings, or The Wizard of Oz. The blog quotes an article from the Christian Standard entitled Thank God for Harry Potter :

“In the 2,500-plus pages of the first five novels in the series, there is not one mention of Satan or demons or anything the slightest bit occult. In fact, the books are utterly secular in their orientation.”

http://muire.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/morality-in-scifi-and-fantasy/

Matters are further complicated by the fact that the creator of the series, J.K. Rowling, is a confirmed Christian. Thank God for Harry indeed.